Sustained yield forestry policy in B.C. to 1956 : a deterministic analysis of development
Date
1984
Authors
Aylen, Peter G.
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Abstract
This thesis has two main purposes: 1) to demonstrate the shortcomings of the voluntarist, neo-Marxist theory currently dominant in Canadian political economy writing and 2) to demonstrate the superiority of the traditional, determinist Marxism more characteristic of Soviet political economy than of Western Marxism.
The empirical content of the thesis concerns the topic of business-government relations in British Columbia, and focuses on the adoption of sustained yield forest policy and its implementation. This policy marked the end of uncontrolled exploitation of the forest resource in British Columbia. It was adopted shortly after World War II.
Following an introduction to the issues raised at the 1945 Royal Commission bearings concerning B. C.'s forestry conditions , the thesis starts by outlining methodological and analytical differences be twee n determinist and voluntarist studies sustained yield policy is then placed in its economic and geographic context. It has been suggested that the policy has contributed to economic concentration and to the disadvantage of smaller firms. This argument is evaluated by documenting the competitive ad vantages of larger firms over smaller, independent firms, in terms of cost structure, product quality and value, and locational factors , prior to the implementation of sustained yield. The thesis then examines the origins of the 1945 Royal Commission, and the reasons why business plans for sustained yield were necessarily rejected, while the government's plan was adopted.
Subsequent sustained yield policy necessarily deviated from the recommendations of the Royal Commission, yet the analysis indicates that sustained yield did net have any main independent impact on the economic position of small firms.
Finally, the thesis returns to the question of voluntarist versus determinist analysis, focusing on selected studies of the B.C. forestry sector as well as "classical" sociological, etc., studies in Canadian political economy.